Buffalo Sabres waive qualifying offer for Jacob Bryson

Jacob Bryson and Riley Stillman, both left-handed defensemen, are eligible to sign elsewhere after the club opted not to extend qualifying offers to the restricted free agents before Sunday’s deadline.

The decision with Bryson has to do with the salary that could have been awarded to him if he had filed for arbitration. His qualifying offer alone would have been worth $1.9 million, which is expensive for a potential seventh defenseman. The Sabers are trying to protect their draft space as general manager Kevyn Adams attempts to improve his roster for next season. They completed the buyout of Jeff Skinner’s contract, creating a $7.55 million cap hit for next season.

The Sabres made qualifying offers to newly acquired winger Beck Malenstyn, center Peyton Krebs, defenseman Henri Jokiharju and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen. That retains their rights through the 2024-25 season and gives general manager Kevyn Adams’ staff more time to finalize contracts with each player.

Stillman spent this season in Rochester, and the club originally acquired him in 2022-23 for promising forward Josh Bloom.

Malenstyn, Jokiharju and Luukkonen can file for salary arbitration if the two sides can’t reach an agreement. The Sabres have been working since April to sign Luukkonen to a contract extension. They have a cap hit of $31.7 million for next season, according to CapFriendly.com.

Bryson, 26, had a bounce-back season in 2024-25 with more consistent play in his own zone. The 5-foot-9 defenseman has played 206 games with Buffalo over the past four seasons, totaling four goals and 36 points over that span.